Travel Passes

The provision of monthly or annual bus, train or ferry passes by you, the employer, to an employee or director is not a taxable Benefit-in-Kind (BIK). This exemption applies to transport services provided by both State companies and licenced private transport operators. For the BIK to apply, you must incur the full cost of the travel pass.

If you want this to appear on the payslip of the employee, you can set this up on SimplePay as a custom company contribution item. Selecting the company contribution option when creating the custom item rather than a benefit will ensure that it is not taxed. More information about custom items is available here:

Payroll Setup > Company Setup > Custom Items

It is also acceptable for you to provide a bus, train or ferry pass to an employee in return for the employee agreeing to have his salary reduced by an equivalent amount, known as a salary sacrifice. More information about salary sacrifices and our system item for this is available in the following help articles:

Payroll Concepts > Salary Sacrifice

Payroll Processing > System Items > Travel Pass – Salary Sacrifice